English Language Exemptions for Indefinite Leave to Remain

Types of Exemption

Age

Home Office caseworker guidance: “People aged under 18 years, or 65 years or older on the date of their application are exempt from the KoLL requirement.” That covers both parts — the English language requirement and the Life in the UK test. Note the lower limit as well as the upper one; it is routinely left out. You must still meet every other settlement requirement.

Physical or Mental Condition

This is a discretion to waive, not an automatic exemption. The guidance says a caseworker must exercise it if the applicant is suffering from a long-term illness or disability that severely restricts their ability to learn English or prepare for the Life in the UK test, or has a mental condition which prevents them from speaking or learning English to the required standard. The examples it gives of where discretion may be appropriate are someone who is deaf, someone without speech, or someone with a speech impediment that limits their ability to communicate in the relevant language.

Two qualifications in the guidance are worth knowing. Evidence that you cannot satisfy one part does not automatically waive the other — a condition might make the Life in the UK test unreasonable while leaving the English requirement satisfiable, because the two are assessed differently. And it notes that test centres and many colleges can cater for a variety of disabilities, such as blindness, so producing evidence of a disability does not by itself mean the test cannot be taken.

Nationals of a Majority English-Speaking Country

This meets the English language part without a test. It does not remove the Life in the UK test. GOV.UK's list is: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the British overseas territories, Canada, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Malta, New Zealand, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the USA. Ireland appears on the list for citizenship applications only.

That is the whole list. English being an official language of a country does not put it on it: Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, Singapore, Kenya and Zimbabwe are all outside it.

Categories Not Subject to the Requirement at All

The guidance names groups who do not need to meet the settlement knowledge of language and life requirement:

• victims of domestic violence
• foreign and Commonwealth citizens on discharge from HM Forces, including Gurkhas
• bereaved spouses, civil partners, unmarried partners or same-sex partners of people present and settled in the UK
• parents, grandparents and other dependent relatives of people present and settled in the UK applying under paragraph 317, even if aged between 18 and 64
• adult dependent relatives under Appendix FM, even if aged between 18 and 64
• retired persons of independent means
• people applying for settlement as a refugee
• people applying on the basis of discretionary leave
• people applying on the basis of humanitarian protection
• people applying outside the Immigration Rules under discretionary arrangements such as those for Gurkhas, widows, overage dependants and orphans
• people applying for settlement as a stateless person
• highly skilled migrants applying under the terms of the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme judicial review, and their dependants

Separately, doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives previously granted leave under Tier 2 (General) do not need to meet the English language requirement for settlement. That exemption covers English only; they still have to pass the Life in the UK test.

After 15 Years' Continuous Leave

There is a separate route for someone who cannot reasonably reach B1. The guidance treats an applicant as having sufficient knowledge of English and of life in the UK if they are not a national of an English-speaking country, have an English speaking and listening qualification at A2 (or ESOL entry level 2, or level 3 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework), have evidence from a qualified English language teacher that it is not reasonable to expect them to pass at B1, and have spent a continuous period of at least 15 years with leave to enter or remain in one of the categories in paragraph 3.2(a) of Appendix KoLL.

The teacher's letter must be signed and dated within 3 months of the application, name the applicant, confirm they attended a class taught by a qualified English language teacher for at least 75 guided learning hours in the 12 months before the application, and confirm the writer's assessment that the applicant's speaking and listening is not at B1 or above. Guided learning hours means taught time, not unsupervised study.

Settlement on the Simplified Routes

Applications for settlement made after 1 December 2020 on the Skilled Worker, Representative of an Overseas Business, T2 Minister of Religion, T2 Sportsperson, UK Ancestry, Global Talent, Innovator, T5 International Agreement (private servants in a diplomatic household) and Hong Kong British National (Overseas) routes are governed by separate simplified rules — Appendix English Language and Appendix KoL UK — rather than by Appendix KoLL. On those routes, someone who already met the English requirement at the required level in a successful earlier application does not have to meet it again. The Life in the UK guidance still applies to them.

A change to note. The settlement English requirement rises from B1 to B2 on 26 March 2027 for a named set of routes including Skilled Worker, Scale-up, Global Talent and long residence. That is enacted but not yet in force, so it applies from that date and not before.

Evidence for Medical Exemptions

The guidance is specific, and it is not a letter. It says: “To request a waiver the applicant must provide a completed medical waiver proforma from a doctor confirming their physical or mental condition. All original and current relevant medical reports setting out their diagnosis should also be submitted with the completed exemption form.”

So two things go in:

• the Home Office medical waiver proforma, completed by a doctor
• the original and current relevant medical reports setting out the diagnosis

Where a request does not include the completed proforma, the guidance says caseworkers must give the applicant the chance to provide it, unless the application falls to be refused on another ground. If it is still not provided, they must decide the application on the information available.

The legal basis differs by application: Appendix KoLL for settlement, Appendix English Language and Appendix KoL UK for settlement on the simplified routes listed below, and paragraph 2(e) of Schedule 1 to the British Nationality Act 1981 for naturalisation.

Claiming the Exemption

Exemptions are not automatic. You must claim the exemption in your ILR application and provide the supporting evidence. If you do not claim it, the Home Office will assess your application against the standard requirements.

If You Do Not Qualify for an Exemption

If you do not qualify for an exemption, you must meet the standard English language requirement. See our guides on:

• English for ILR
• Booking an English test
• English classes for adults
• English level comparison

Exemptions and Citizenship

The two are assessed separately and the rules are not identical. For British citizenship, the age position is a discretion to waive rather than an automatic exemption, and caseworkers must contact the Nationality Policy team before applying it to anyone under 65.

On medical grounds the guidance is explicit that nothing carries over: “If an applicant has obtained an exemption because of a physical mental condition for their indefinite leave to remain application, they will be required to make a separate exemption request for their naturalisation application.”

One thing that does carry over is a qualification. Someone who successfully made a settlement application on the basis of a B1 qualification meets the English requirement for naturalisation without passing another one — even if the original provider has since left the approved list. They still have to pass the Life in the UK test if they have not already. See our exemptions entry for the family routes.

For the standard English requirement for citizenship, see our guide on English for citizenship.

Further Resources

For the full ILR guidance, visit GOV.UK. See also our guides on citizenship requirements.

You may also find our English Language Tests for UK Visas andUK Visa Fees: Complete Guide helpful.

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